Sam Haines

This particular body of work grow out of making Asphalt Necklace.  I had found varies chunks asphalt while on my everyday bike commute though Boston.  While creating basket settings with silver wire to support these randomly shaped pieces, I formed the settings to mirror the general shape of the object.  The process led me to discover the beauty of the simple wire settings by themselves.  I began to create individual pieces based on the forms of the basket settings to act a link pieces for the back of the necklace.  The forms alone were intriguing, calling my eye to explore the piece from different perspectives.  I began to identify the specific characteristics that made up these cellular forms giving them volume, lines, and planes.  Although they do not directly reference biology they have a cell-like quality.  At this juncture the forms took their own identity and became a new focus for my work.

These abstract organic forms are dynamic and expand from simple gestural shapes into three-dimensional forms created in silver.  The shapes are inspired, informed, and drawn from my close observation of objects in the world around me, such as pieces of asphalt.  Through the process of translating these into metal the forms have synthesized into their own independent identity.  Now as the maker I continue to question their characteristics and qualities to explore their potential form even further.

Humankind has an indisputable reliance on the natural world but as our development and urban expansion continues I am interested in how we personally associate with nature.  I have always felt a strong personal connection with nature and am intrigued by how each person connects with nature.  The objects we keep, the elements of the natural world with which we affiliate and in which we find joy, as well as the natural environments we visit, all represent this personal connection in our life.

Natural Interaction is in response to the emotional, physical, and spiritual connection that we each individually share with nature.  To highlight that unseen connection I create an interface between the wearer and natural objects, elements, or vignettes that they find and relate to and then document this interaction.  By using the interface the wearer can interact or directly unite themselves with nature, anchoring them to this unseen relationship.

In our everyday lives we are surrounded by small pieces and representations of nature.  I bring these objects forward and incorporate them into pieces of jewelry that emphasize the value of nature and these objects in our lives. The designs tell a story about the object, were it came from and how it may have resided in in its natural environment. Now in their current form they can be seen for the connection to the wearer.  To some they may be seen just as beautiful object but to the owner they are seen for the emotional connection to the natural object or its original environment.